


forever we’re young (and we are dying)

by atlantisairlock



Category: Machine - Tan Tarn How
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Based Off The Studios Fifty Restaging, Dubious Morality, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Freeform, Implied Relationships, Other, Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:11:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3915853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlantisairlock/pseuds/atlantisairlock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>and with a voice of thunder, "come".</p>
            </blockquote>





	forever we’re young (and we are dying)

**Author's Note:**

> quotes from 'let her go' by passenger, buffy the vampire slayer, and 'a piece of the storm' by mark strand.
> 
> title from 'animal' by ellie goulding.

_you see her when you close your eyes_  
_maybe one day you'll understand why_  
_everything you touch surely dies_

\---

The legends are true, and the heavens cry when they are born again.

There is nothing about their external appearances that tell of the power they hold within them. They are just any other baby being born in the four walls of a hospital, entering the world screaming.

Until they aren't.

 

 

Heng figures out he's not like everyone else when he's nine and manages to shut down the school by sheer force of will. More accurately, he singlehandedly creates a chickenpox epidemic just by touching people and... thinking. His mother takes him to the doctor even though he doesn't display any symptoms just in case, but he doesn't need a proper diagnosis to know he's clean.

For someone who can spread sickness with just the slightest skin-to-skin contact, it seems fitting that he can never get sick. 

 

 

"Lunch is ready! You hungry, Kim?"

Hunger. What does that mean? Her parents always talk about how she was an easy baby, never fussy, never waking them up in the middle of the night to feed. Her teachers frown and lecture her about her lack of ambition. The pastor at church praises her for turning away from filthy earthly desires, for not succumbing to base pleasures while her friends around her sin.  

But she has never _been_ hungry, even though everyone around her constantly seems to be.

Until.

 _Cross your fingers,_ her father said when they were stargazing one night.  _That's how you make a wish._

She did. 

He went in for a sandwich not two seconds later, and fought tooth and claw for a promotion at work the very next day.

It took her a while to connect the dots. It wasn't as if it was a very useful power to have.

 

 

It's her neighbour who teaches her how to snap her fingers. He grins at her across the fence dividing their yards and demonstrates the technique, giving her a thumbs-up when she finds that she's a natural.

Lina snaps her fingers in the classroom the next morning, and is rewarded with the sight of three of her classmates delving into a full-blown fistfight. It takes two teachers to pull them apart, and one of them actually gets a black eye. She tries it again to confirm her hypothesis, and again, and again.

It makes for entertainment in a pinch. 

 

 

Rex is the first. He knows it. He is born feeling empty, just waiting for someone to complete him. He cannot exist without them, and they cannot exist without him. 

At first, he can only cause the slightest discomfort by stating exactly he wants - ant-bite pain along the expanse of someone's back; burning, aching growing pains in another's knee.It's not that effective. At best, he can induce a bit of a stomach upset. It's not enough.

He wakes up one morning feeling like something has  _settled,_ and he knows, instinctively, that one of them has been born. He doesn't know who it is yet, but what he does know is that he gets stronger. Now he can cause _real_  pain, then severe injuries.

Rex is working part-time at the garage, fitting a newly pumped tyre onto a car, when it happens. It feels as if the galaxy has tipped off its axis, like something has finally stoked the fire within him.

The last. 

The  _last._

A sudden movement beneath his hands jerks him back to reality. The tyre is flat again. 

_\---_

_make your choice. are you ready to be strong?_

\---

The girls find each other first, in school, a senior guiding a freshman around a terrifying new environment. 

 _Don't snap your fingers,_ Kim says quietly to her when she's got her hand on the doorknob to homeroom.

Lina smirks at her and bows in mock-obedience. _Don't cross yours._

They are not friends. They are not lovers. Nobody seems to understand this, because Kim holds Lina at her graduation and Lina picks Kim up after school every day and takes her out to hidden gems around quiet neighbourhoods.  _Say hi to your girlfriend for me, how's your girlfriend, are you going on a date today?_

 _She's not my girlfriend,_ Kim says, but they just laugh. 

They don't understand. It's not like that. They are of another sort.

Lina agrees. We _don't need to define ourselves by human relationships. We are more than that._

They are more than that. 

 

 

Rex feels the tug even before they step into the house. The apartment is decorated with gaudy streamers and the atmosphere is charged with joy. His uncle greets him with a smile and asks if he'd like to see his baby cousin.

He waits for a quiet moment. When all of the adults are together, talking and chatting, and the baby is left in his room to have a nap. He shuts the door behind him and sets his beer on the table, looks down into the cot, feels something shift within him.

The child opens his eyes, a look of recognition seared into them. Against his will, Rex smiles and reaches down to touch his forehead. 

 _Hello,_ he says,  _you are mine._

Heng grows up following Rex like a puppy. The families laugh about how he's got a cousin complex, but both of them know better.

 

 

They are linked by a bond deeper than blood, but even then they do not convene as four until years later. Not until Rex and Heng ring the doorbell of the flat Lina and Kim are sharing.

_You're sure this is the house?_

_Yes,_ Rex replies without looking away.  _Don't you feel it? Don't you hear it calling? This will be our last repair job, Heng. We've found them._

The moment Lina opens the door, Heng knows he's right. The moment he sees her face, he can feel that centuries-old tie between them knot together. He wants to hold her, touch her, be close to her. He doesn't ever want to leave her side. It's the same. They cannot be apart. 

 _You,_ Lina whispers, hand dropping to her side.  _You._

_Us._

She turns, calls to someone beyond their field of vision.  _Kim!_

 _Nice to meet you,_ Rex says smoothly, holding out his hand.  _I am Death._

 

 

 

The first night they are together, they don't do anything more than hold each other, listen to the torrents of rain outside the window. They have taken this long to find one another, and yet -

when the dawn breaks, Lina is the first to rise. She gets up, stands at the foot of the bed, and they all look at her.

She snaps her fingers.

 

 

 

_Are we going?_

_Yes._

_Where?_

_Everywhere._

_What are we doing?_

_Cleansing. Purifying. Rebuilding._

_Together?_

_Together._

_\---_

_it's time. the air is ready. the sky has an opening._

**Author's Note:**

> machine features two appliance repairmen, rex and heng, who turn up at the home of two friends, lina and kim, to fix their washing machine. a chillingly unsentimental exploration of love, sex and romance ensues. 
> 
> in the studios fifty adaptation, rex is portrayed by andrew lua, heng is portrayed by terence tay, lina is portrayed by amanda tee, and kim is portrayed by zee wong.


End file.
